Jail for shirtless robber who stole in daylight

Pam has been at the Daily Mercury since March 2013 and has also worked as a journalist in Batemans Bay and Wellington both in NSW. And yes, that does make her a Blues supporter. Growing up she moved around different places including Sydney, Moree, Wollongong and lived for about two years as a high school student on a small island in Micronesia called Pohnpei. Pam loves water sports, including SCUBA diving, snorkelling and kayaking but her awful balance means she’ll never touch a surf board. Ever...

DRESSED in a knitted jumper, a broad-shouldered heroin addict stood up in court and told a judge that the first time he felt like he "fitted in" was when he was released from jail in 2013.

Then aged 37, he admitted life started feeling normal for the first time; he was working and going to the gym.

But after failing a drug test on parole because he had Valium in his system, life went "downhill" for Darryl Raymond Green.

He got hooked on heroin again and went on a one-month crime spree, breaking into businesses along the Fraser Coast and Sunshine Coast in November and December 2013 and assaulting and robbing two women.

He was on parole for similar offences at the time.

Green robbed some businesses in daylight during trading hours, sometimes without a shirt on, Brisbane District Court heard on Friday.

Most of his thefts were caught on CCTV and he has a distinctive tattoo on his right shoulder making him easy to identify.

Defence barrister Greg McGuire said Green did not remember of a lot of the offences he committed while on the crime spree because of his drug addiction.

Green, now 39, pleaded guilty to a string of charges which included breaking into 12 businesses in towns including Gympie, Maryborough, Tiaro, Point Vernon and Palmwoods.

Loss suffered from his thefts totalled about $24,000, the court heard.

Green also punched a woman at Buderim and stole bags from her that contained money she was about to deposit at a bank.

Days later he walked into a florist north of Brisbane and grabbed a woman by the waist and threw her onto a workbench before leaning over to the cash register and fleeing with money.

"The way I treated people was pretty disgraceful," Green admitted to the judge before being sentenced.

"Now I understand that. I just wish I could have done it differently."

Judge Brian Devereaux said Green committed a series of violent offences while on parole and had a serious criminal history.

"It wouldn't be surprising if a court decided you were beyond rehabilitation and somebody should lock you away and throw away the key," he said.

Green was sentenced to six years jail with a non-parole period of three years on these charges and will be behind bars until at least 2019. Because he breached parole, he has to serve the remainder of his previous jail sentence before the new jail period starts.